The European Patent Office has granted patent application on Composition of Matter for belinostat (EP01970011) to Topotarget. This application has claims covering belinostat itself and its use in proliferative diseases including cancer. The ensuing patent will protect the compound until at least 2021, with the possibility of protection up to 2026, from associated Supplementary Protection Certificates.

Similar patents have already been granted in other major territories including the US and Japan. The total patent estate covering belinostat compositions, formulations, methods of use, and methods of manufacture cover the clinical use of this drug out to 2030 and beyond.

“This patent allowance equals possibilities. Belinostat is a product with a broad reach and with this grant from the European Patent Office we have secured our product for the next many years,” says Anders Vadsholt, CEO of Topotarget A/S.

Belinostat is a novel pan-HDAC inhibitor in late-stage clinical development with more than 1,100 patients treated. Belinostat has a promising safety profile which allows combination with traditional chemotherapy. Preclinical experiments demonstrated belinostat to be effective against multiple cancers by inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing programed cell death (apoptosis) in tumor cells. Belinostat has been tested in a number of phase I/II clinical trials in hematological cancers and solid tumours both in mono- and combination therapy. Data from these trials have provided evidence of the anti-tumour effect of belinostat, including as monotherapy in peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), liver cancer, and combination therapy in soft tissue sarcoma (STS) and thymoma.

Topotarget is a Scandinavian-based biopharmaceutical company dedicated to clinical development and registration of oncology products.